


fallingforyou

by prongsprobably



Series: falling from grace [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrinette, F/M, Fluff, Humor, May be a bit OOC, Pining, Romance, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, adrien is a dork, adrienus dorkus, but i tried, cute stuff, i have no idea how tags work whatever, ladrien, ladynoir if you squint, lots of pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-11
Updated: 2018-05-11
Packaged: 2019-05-05 07:42:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14613072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prongsprobably/pseuds/prongsprobably
Summary: It had been a week since his classmate and good friend, Marinette, had to kiss him (on certain spots of his face), for the new fragrance ad that he had. He could’ve expected that happening. What he didn’t expect was the reaction it brought out of him.OR in which Adrien has an epiphany of sorts. // sequel to heaven but can stand alone.





	fallingforyou

**Author's Note:**

> this fic got seriously out of hand because Adrien won't stop blabbering in my head.
> 
> it was cute. Also: unbeta-ed, so read at your own risk. Enjoy~!

_Don’t you see me I_

_I think I’m falling,_

_I’m falling for you_

**_// Fallingforyou_ ** _– the 1975_

* * *

  


It must be written in a rule book somewhere, that a friend should not think of a friend’s lips much longer than necessary, no matter how tempting and pretty and _moist_ they are.

     Granted, this friend was nothing short of amazing in the time that he’s know her—she was responsible, sweet, thoughtful, considerate, AND pretty, attributes that Adrien was finding quite devastating, not for her but for himself, given his current predicament.

It had been a week since his classmate and good friend, Marinette, had to kiss him (on certain spots of his face), for the new fragrance ad that he had. He could’ve expected that happening. What he didn’t expect was the reaction it brought out of him.

(Seriously, what about _Ladybug_? He had spent most of his teenage years trying to win her over, and he had already convinced himself of his loyalty and unending affections for her, despite them being unreturned.)

Still, it wasn’t like he could control the reactions his body made. How his heart had stuttered. How his lungs felt like bursting. How he had done his best to keep his hands to himself, to not tug her closer and maybe _maybe_ allow himself to taste her lips. Properly.

     Ugh. Friends don’t think about wanting to kiss their friends. More specifically, friends don’t think about wanting to kiss their friends when he’s in a very committed (one-way) relationship. He was being a jerk. A very perverted jerk.

This—this thing with Marinette, Adrien was sure he should’ve seen this coming. But he had walked into these feelings unknowingly, and he didn’t know if he could still take a step back. If he still wanted to take a step back.

“I hope you understood this project very well,” Mme. Bustier was telling, and Adrien had just about enough willpower to snap out of his dazed look when the teacher gestured towards him—or, well, behind him. “Alya, Marinette, I trust you two to take care of this, alright?”

“Yes, Mme. Bustier,” a voice quipped behind him, and Adrien had to bite his inner cheek, because he hadn’t counted on his heart skipping a beat when he heard her sweet, cheerful voice. _Damn_.

Realizing he hadn’t heard a word about the project, Adrien sidled up to Nino. “What did Mme. Bustier say?”

“You weren’t listening?” his friend raised an eyebrow, thought his tone was more of surprise than anything unkind. “Something about Personality Development project. The class is going to put together a scrapbook of everyone’s pictures. We’re supposed to present three pictures of ourselves that captures who we are. Or something.”

“Oh.”

Nino chuckled, patting his shoulder good-naturedly. “Just where were you, bro?”

“Somewhere.” Adrien flushed and averted his gaze away.

     Nino, good friend that he was, looked at him pointedly but did not press on the matter. When the bell rang and their teacher left the room, Alya and Marinette waked down the aisle and stood before the class. The brunette cleared her throat, pushing her glasses up her nose. “Alright everybody, listen up! Alix, Kim, stop tearing each other’s throat for a moment! If it’s okay with all of you, we’d like to split the class in groups for this project, and we’d schedule photoshoots by group.”

At Alya’s signal, Marinette stepped forward. “I know most of us are saving up, one way or another, so we’re not hiring a photographer. Either Alya or I would take your pictures.”

Another thing Adrien realized he admired was Marinette and Alya’s tag team. Sometimes, Adrien even thinks they can rival his and Ladybug’s partnership.

“Sign me out of this,” Chloe loudly proclaimed, tossing her hair over her shoulder and brushing past their class representatives, with Sabrina, ever the loyal friend, in tow.

“Chloe!” Marinette called out. The blonde stopped, her hand gripping the door knob, but did not turn around. Before, Marinette would blow up and rant about how being self-important Chloe is, but now she just merely fixed a serious stare on the girl’s back. “I’ll be expecting your pictures in two days.”

Chloe tossed her an unimpressed look, and then rolled her eyes, huffing. “Whatever.”

     This was amusing to watch too, this certain dynamic between Chloe and Marinette. The latter was always friendly, ready to help whoever needed it. Quite like Ladybug actually, but while his superhero partner stood with assured confidence and power, Marinette stood with quiet confidence and firm convictions. He had seen, through the years, how her penchant for being flustered and being short-tempered (especially when it involved Chloe) slowly reduced, creating this girl of today, who somehow became a friend.

(A friend he’d very much like to kiss.)

( _Gah_.)

( _Stop being such a jerk, Agreste._ )

Chloe, on the other hand, easily gave the impression of a spoiled rotten brat (which she often was), but she wasn’t _thoughtless_ or _heartless_. Adrien knew that. Maybe Marinette had realized that too, so now even if they weren’t the best of friends, Marinette and Chloe were civil. Almost acquaintances, actually. But if you’d point that out to either of them, they’d scoff and roll their eyes.

     After a reminder from Alya to check their phones and read the group chat (“STOP FLOODING IT WITH MEMES LE CHIEN!”), the class was finally allowed to take their break. Adrien stood, collecting his things and finding himself watching Marinette at the corner of his eyes, who was busy talking to Juleka’s group at the other side of the room.

“Stare any longer and she’ll melt,” Plagg teased in a sing-song voice, and the kwami’s cheeky grin had Adrien shoving his stuff in the bag, earning a curse from the little god.

“Hey Adrien.”

The boy jumped, startled, and nearly gave himself a whiplash when he turned to look at Marinette, who stood on the aisle beside him, looking at him with concern and amusement. “I’m sorry, did I startle you?”

“N-no.” _Yes_. He cleared his throat and met her eyes, which proved to be a mistake, because her eyes were a startingly deep blue, striking him like lightning. “W-was it what? It w-what was? Er—I mean—what was it?”

If Marinette noticed how flustered he was, she didn’t comment on it. Instead, she gave him a shy smile, her lips quirking up just so. _Gee, was she planning to drive him insane?_ Adrien had to look away and found Alya and Nino walking together out of the room, with the latter throwing him a wink when he caught his eye. _Well. Traitor._ “Alya, Nino, and you and I are scheduled together. If, um, that’s okay with you?”

“Oh, it’s fine,” he was quick to assure her, then winced when he remembered one measly detail. “But… uh… I’m not in charge of schedule, so it might be complicated. I’m sorry.”

Marinette chewed on her lower lip, eyes casted down thoughtfully. Adrien had to swallow a lump in his throat. His photographer that day, Louis, had praised Marinette’s kiss marks on his face more than once, even complimenting the personal touch she added (PERSONAL TOUCH! IT NEARLY DROVE HIM NUTS!), saying how the girl had such nice pair of lips. Adrien had agreed. Wholeheartedly so.

(Ladybug. Ladybug, Ladybug, Ladybug.)

(Ladybug and her smile. Ladybug and her playful flirting. Ladybug and her own kisses—the ones on the cheek out of gratefulness, on the forehead for comfort, and just that last time—the one on his jaw.)

(Oddly enough, that was where Marinet— _no._ )

He had now officially resorted to chanting Ladybug’s name in his head to drive away the temptation that is his very cute friend.

Adrien cleared his throat (again). “If it conflicts with your schedules, I can just get someone to do it for me? I’ll turn in my picture. I don’t want to be a bother—”

“Oh, no,” she waved his concern. “No, I was just thinking how we can work around your schedule. We’re not as loaded with work as you are, so I’m pretty sure we can adjust.”

“Oh,” he stared at her, stunned. Then, earnestly, “Thank you, Mari.”

“N-no problem.” A light dust of pink bloomed on her cheeks. “I-I a-actually have a-another favor to ask.”

“Anything.” He may have been a bit too sincere. She licked her lips, and his eyes, traitorous organs that they were, was automatically drawn to the movement. Now her lips were moist. Seemed to be naturally pink. And plump too.

Adrien glanced away, fiddling with the strap of his bag. “Uh, I know Alya and I volunteered to do everyone’s pictures, and though I _think_ we can make them out to be at least decent, c-can you, uhh, help us? Since you’re familiar with modelling and all, then maybe you h-have an idea?”

He may have stared at her a bit too long.

“I-if not or if i-it’s too much, it’s alright!”

 _Dieu,_ she was just too cute. “Ah, no, it’s alright. I did pick up some things during a shoot. Do you want me to give you pointers while having lunch?”

Marinette lit up, beaming. “Sure.”

( _Well_. That was pretty smooth, if he did say so himself. Lunch together under the pretense of discussing schoolwork.)

(Great job, Agreste.)

(Please don’t do anything creepy.)

* * *

  


In retrospect, he shouldn’t be this preoccupied about her.

     He was a model, a _professional_ , and he’d been in the industry for so long that he was used to all sorts of embarrassing things that may or may not happen during a shoot. He was surrounded by pretty girls and pretty boys of all sizes and ages, all the time. A kiss, of all things—a scripted one, too—shouldn’t have flustered and bothered him and turned his brain into mush.

He’d been kissed before. _Ladybug_ kissed him before, and while that bothered him (in a good way), he chucked it to the fact that he liked her.

 _Wait a second_ , Adrien sat up abruptly, dark spots appearing in front of his eyes at the sudden movement. _If I was bothered by Ladybug’s kiss because I like her, then was I bothered by Marinette’s kiss because I like her? If A=B and B=C, then does that mean A=C?_

“Plagg,” he whispered. He had turned explosively red at the realization, and it was at that state that Plagg found him, his spine ramrod straight while sitting on his bed. “ _Plagg!_ ”

Plagg frowned at the urgency of his whisper, and he floated towards him with the Camembert in his arms. “What? What is it?”

“I—” Adrien’s voice cracked. “I think I like Marinette.”

Whatever his expectation was, he _didn’t_ expect Plagg to suddenly cackle, doing a spin and laughing at his face. “Finally! God, kid, it took you _years_ to figure it out! You’re horridly oblivious, but all the black cats are, and you like this girl as I said you would—”

“But what about Ladybug?”

The kwami rolled his eyes. “What about her?”

“I still like Ladybug!”

“So you like two girls. Big deal.”

“What am I supposed to _do_?”

Plagg snorted and bit into his cheese. This kid was way too complicated. “I told you, you should’ve just liked cheese instead.”

Adrien groaned, letting his body fall into the bed again, and crossed an arm over his eyes. He likes Marinette. He likes Ladybug. Two equally wonderful girls, which he does not deserve at all.

A knock on his door interrupted his misery. Adrien sat up, expectant, and watched as Nathalie walked in. She gave him a searching look to which he responded with an innocent smile. “Is my Chinese tutor here?”

His father’s assistant cleared her throat. “Actually, you’re free for the day.”

“W-what?”

Nathalie checked her tablet, eyebrows furrowing a bit before straightening into the usual expressionless face. “A certain Ms. Dupain-Cheng set an appointment for you for the rest of the day.”

At this Adrien sat up straighter, and he got off his bed and rushed towards Nathalie, checking her tablet. “M-marinette did?”

“She talked to me the other day, asking when you were free, and I told her that while I arrange your schedule it was your father that manages it. So she set up an appointment with him.”

Adrien nearly choked. “Marinette talked to _Father_?”

“Yes,” Nathalie, despite the expressionless look on her face, seemed to be amused. “She asked for your time and argued that it was a crucial part of your education to enjoy things with your friends. Something about life being a greater educator than the four corners of a classroom or the pages of a book.”

Oh, Adrien could kiss her, alright. What Nathalie said barely registered in his mind, because it was reeling. Marinette talked to Nathalie to get his schedule free. _Marinette_ talked to his _Father_ to get his schedule free. Marinette was awesome.

“I—I have to get ready.”

“Of course,” Nathalie’s eyebrows rose up, turning to leave the room. “Ms. Dupain-Cheng and her two companions are waiting for you outside.”

True enough, a few minutes later, he found Marinette, Alya, and Nino waiting for him at the front steps of their home. He had beamed when he saw them, exchanging high-fives with Nino and hugging Alya. When it came to Marinette, he hugged her tighter and spun her around lightly. “I can’t believe you!”

“W-what?” Marinette laughed, placing her hands on each of his arms to balance herself.

“You literally set an _appointment_ for me!”

“Anything to have you on board, man.”

“Yeah, we figured it would be more enjoyable to do it together.”

Adrien smiled, unable to express just how thankful he was to his friends. “You guys…”

“Don’t cry on me, sunshine child,” Alya joked, though she patted his back all the same. “We better start on the project while we have good sunlight.”

On cue, the four of them walked together, with Nino and Alya walking ahead of them, quietly discussing something that involved a lot of hand gestures and snickering. Adrien fell back into a step to walk with Marinette. “So, you have me for the whole day, Mari. What are you planning with me?”

He might have imagined it, but Marinette seemed to have swallowed thickly. “Ah… we’re planning on one regular picture and two candid shots of the things we’re passionate about. Do you… want to see the others’ pictures?”

“Sure,” he quipped, as it was an excuse to move closer to Marinette. His nose, sensitive as it was, was assaulted by the scent of strawberry and sweet pastries. She was warm against him too, and if he reached an arm out around her shoulders and tucked her closer, she’d be a perfect fit too. Marinette dug through her purse and pulled out her phone, where she said they temporarily stored some of the pictures they were yet to print.

     There was a picture of Rose in the library, and Rose playing with her puppies, and Rose watering flowers. Another was of Nathanael in his studio, Nathanael painting, and Nathanael in a museum. There was Kim doing sports, and Alix on her roller blades. Max beside a case full of his trophies and Max concentrated during a videogame. All their classmates, doing the things they love, the things that made _them_. Marinette’s shots (and he’s assuming some of them were Alya’s) were by no means professional, not like the things he’d seen printed into magazines, but it was raw and honest and pure. The angles were just right to capture feelings.

“You have a knack for this,” he light-heartedly commented. “Those are really good shots. You’re amazing, Marinette.”

(So maybe he sounded a bit awed.)

(Fine, certainly beyond a ‘bit’.)

She blushed, entirely too cute for her own good. “Your tips helped a lot.”

“Ah, but all I did was give tips. You and Alya did the work.”

“T-thank you.”

She sent him a small shy smile and he found himself nearly gasping for breath. Was this what this girl has turned into? Someone who’s so vivacious, yet soft? How could she possibly be harmless?

“Hey, kids!” they both turned to Alya, who was already waving at them from the other side of the street. “Are you continue making gooey eyes at each other or are we starting on our project?”

They froze, surprised, and then glanced at each other, before bursting in amused chuckles, and an endearing “Oh, Alya” rolled off Marinette with such warmth. Noticing that the green light for pedestrians only had fifteen seconds left. Without thinking too much about it, he grabbed on Marinette’s hand, smiling when she looked at him in surprise, laughingly tugging her towards the other side of the street.

Maybe he had a bit of a crush on her.

So what.

* * *

  


Taking Alya and Marinette’s pictures were easy. They had shots in Alya’s ‘lair’ (her room, really), where she showed them her work on the Ladyblog, and she showed them her superhero costume collection. That had Marinette pursing her lips in thought, and Adrien sidled up next to her and slightly leaned, so his arm was pressed against her own. She let out a small (cute) squeak as she glanced at him, but he just gave her a smile, nary an explanation.

They had taken pictures of Alya with her siblings too, and it was just a home full of laughter and warmth that Adrien ached, wishing for his own. That time it was Marinette who pressed her arm against his, giving him a sidelong smile, and he felt butterflies in his stomach.

You’d think, as one of Paris’ esteemed superheroes, he should’ve had enough of butterflies.

Hah.

Joke’s on him.

Marinette’s pictures, on the other hand, took place in her own house, where she showed them her wall of design drafts, others were magazine cut outs of pieces that she said particularly inspired her. (“WOW Mari I never noticed that you changed your décor around here!” – “Alya!”) Then she showed them her balcony, and that Adrien was familiar with, as he often dropped by there as Chat Noir, but only because he had to rest from vaulting from roof to roof. They had taken pictures of her baking, and Adrien particularly liked the shot of her laughing at something Nino had said, with icing on her cheeks and her hands full of flour, her eyes nearly gone and her laugh positively disarming.

“Lovely view, ain’t it, Agreste?” Alya teased him, and he had to remember that this was the _best friend_ of the girl he was crushing on, so he averted his gaze away, pink in his cheeks, and laughing awkwardly.

“You didn’t deny,” was Alya’s tilting response, and she too turned to look at Marinette and Nino. Alya and Adrien sighed in chorus.

“What would your third concept be?” Nino asked, fiddling on the camera for a while before looking up at Marinette, who was chewing her lips in thought.

(Adrien thought this was an odd habit to form.)

“It’s easy to figure out what Marinette is passionate about. For one, she doesn’t stop talking about them,” Alya told them, pressing her hip against the counter and grinning mischievously. “In fact, I can tell you about the top three things she talks about. One, fashion. Two, baking. Three, A—”

“ALYA!” Marinette shrieked, in an uncharacteristically shrilly voice, and both Nino and Adrien shared looks of surprise, completely clueless. But Alya merely laughed and raised her hands in surrender. “I was just teasing! Chill, Mari!”

And she had winked at her fuming friend’s reddened face. Adrien never got that part, and soon they agreed to take pictures of Marinette in her balcony, and that was one of Adrien’s favorite pictures too, with her face up in the sunlight and her eyes closed in peace.

When it was Nino’s turn, Adrien realized he had a bit of a dilemma. All their pictures had something to do with the things they loved. What about him? What did he love?

     Marinette, thoughtful and observant that she was, sat next to him as they watched Alya take pictures of Nino. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah—no. Well,” he sighed. “Actually, I don’t know how we’re going to do with my pictures. I—I know I do a lot of stuff, but I’m not sure I know what I love to do.”

“Are you sure? Nothing comes to mind? Not—not a single thing?” Marinette pressed on, and he casted his eyes down, suddenly seeing the ring on his finger.

Well, that was one. He loves being Chat Noir. But he couldn’t tell Marinette that, could he? All the things he did were on schedule, on the orders of his father. He did them out of regularity. In response to her question, he just looked at her, helpless.

“Hmm. If—if your father tells you that you’re free with your time, then what would you do?”

“Uh… probably laze around and play video games.”

“That should be one,” Marinette pointed. “Video games.”

“Oh,” his eyes lit up. “Right.”

“What else do you enjoy?”

“Huh,” Adrien scratched at the back of his neck. “This would be weird, but I enjoy coming to school.”

“Of course, you do,” she said, but there was no malice in her tone, instead he could sense some fondness and endearment in there too. “Science?”

“Stars,” he said quickly. “I love the stars. My mother—she—we-we used to stargaze a lot. I love the stars and learning about them.”

Marinette smiled at that. “See? I know there’s something there.”

“Yeah… I-I… I love spending time with you…” _what the heck what is he saying_ “—guys! I love spending time with you guys too!”

 _Coward_ , said a voice in his head that strangely sounded like Plagg.

Oblivious to his turmoil, Marinette smiled at him sincerely. “We love spending time with you, too.”

Well, would you look at _that_.

She _loves_ spending time with him!

Granted, she said ‘we’, but unless his knowledge of collective pronouns has worn out, ‘we’ is inclusive of her self. The thought made him excessively giddy.

So what if the pictures they’ve taken of him are particularly dopey? So what if his smile was too wide, all because he was watching Marinette watching him? So what if Alya noticed it, and hadn’t stopped teasing him about it ever since? So what if Nino kept sending him funny looks, evidently wanting to grill him about it? His father would have never allowed for those pictures to be published anywhere in the world.

But he was _happy_.

Genuinely, sincerely, _happy_.   

**Author's Note:**

> The third thing Marinette was passionate about was/is Adrien Agreste and you cannot fight me on that.
> 
> holler at me at prongsprobably.tumblr.com


End file.
